A much-noted fact about social and fashion trends is that they start with the wealthy elites, who adopt distinct ways of signaling to each other (and to the other classes) that they are, in fact, very rich and important (without having to overtly say so).
The trends trickle down to lower classes, wanting that same prestige (because in America, what is more virtuous than having piles of money?). The rich, now seeing their bags/shoes/brands on the lower classes, drop them and find new signals, which the lower classes inevitably soon notice and begin to mimic, causing the elites to abandon them once again.
And the cycle continues.
We see this in all kinds of ways in real estate. Stainless steel appliances and stone countertops were once synonymous with high luxury and are now commonplace. Home renovation, once a wildly expensive luxury pastime, is now the entire country’s weekend hobby.
We see trickle-down effects in the business of selling houses, too. Twenty years ago, professional staging and architectural photography were only for the mansions of Beverly Hills - both are now standard across all price points. And so on.
Which brings me to a certain other rich person habit that has trickled down and, I think, is here to stay: not selling your house.
Kennebunkport, Buckingham Palace, Downtown Abby, Aubrey Hall: A house that is held in the family and passed down from generation to generation might be the defining habit of the wealthy.
So here’s my theory: this present-day lack of home sellers, the lowest number of sales in 35 years, is not just the “locked-in effect” of low interest rates.
Word has gotten out, and the mindset has trickled down, that you shouldn’t sell your house.
Regular people are starting to see that a home is the ultimate form of generational wealth. That their house is for their kids—and their grandkids. They are maybe deciding that the best “leg-up” they can give their kids is no longer a college education but a house or two with millions in equity.
This feels like a new thing. Regular people didn't talk about “generational wealth” until a few years ago. It’s sort of relaxing too - buying and owning a house might be a struggle now, but will pay off hugely for children or grandchildren. It’s a nice thought.
Generational wealth means sparing your kids from the backbreaking work of middle-class striving and status-seeking, and the wealthy have known this for decades. One of the funny hallmarks of the upper classes is that they actually don’t care where their kids go to college. And maybe the rest of us have realized that a college degree is not the advantage it once was. But a house sure is.
I think regular people are realizing that the wealthy don’t necessarily earn. They own. And as houses become more and more difficult to actually buy, skipping the selling part might be the most priceless heirloom of all.
